Hofstra men’s team to participate in the Tunnel to Towers Run Sunday

The Hofstra University Men’s Lacrosse team and coaching staff will once again donate more than $2,000 in registration fees as part of the Firefighter Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk in lower Manhattan this Sunday, September 25. The race begins at 9:30 a.m. on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Proceeds benefit the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

The 3.1-mile Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk honors the legacy of love given by Siller by paying tribute to his heroic life and death, his 342 FDNY brothers, and all those lost on 9/11. Stephen Siller, beloved husband and father of five, was a firefighter from Squad 1 in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. On September 11, 2001, he was off-duty and on his way to play golf with his three older brothers when he heard on his scanner that the World Trade Center had been hit. He turned his vehicle around and headed toward the site.

When his truck was prohibited from entering the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Siller raced on foot, through the Tunnel, with his gear strapped to his back. He was last seen alive on West and Liberty Streets where-more than likely-he went looking for his Squad, all of whom perished. The Tunnel to Towers Run retraces Stephen’s footsteps on that fateful day. In running along his path, the Run/Walk honors the memory of all the firefighters, police, and EMS workers who performed their duty that day.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation has established “Let Us Do Good” Programs as its way to make a lasting and positive difference in the lives of others. These programs, In the Line of Duty and In the Name of Love, bring hope to grieving children, and healing to firefighters and families of our military, who sacrifice life and limb in the line of duty.
In the Line of Duty programs pay tribute to the 343 FDNY fallen brothers who sacrificed their lives on 9/11 through the memorial Tunnel To Towers Run, which supports the Weill-Cornell Burn Center and Burn Centers across America, and restores shattered lives by building homes for surviving quadriplegic servicemen returning from combat.

In the Name of Love programs bring love and hope to the most broken and vulnerable children. The Foundation does this through scholarship awards for local children who have lost a parent; through the establishment and continued support of Stephen’s House of the New York Foundling for orphaned, abused and neglected children; and for scholarships to children of the men and women who sacrificed their lives in the Afghan and Iraqi wars.

“We are, once again, honored to be participating in the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk,” Hofstra Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Seth Tierney said. “In addition to remembering and honoring Firefighter Siller and all those who perished ten years ago, we are proud to be able to help raise funds for the Foundation and its many charitable endeavors.”